Airlines

My First A380! Thai Airways First Class BKK-HKG

A little quirk of mine is that I refuse to depart Bangkok on any carrier other than Thai Airways. Mostly because the departure experience and spa is unlike anything else!

My flights to/from Asia this summer were covered by Cathay Pacific, but I needed a flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong. If the Emirates A380 tickets had been less than $700 one way, I absolutely would have broken my Thai-only rule for Bangkok and finally tried out the shower! But alas.

Fortunately there was plenty of award space in Thai First for only 30,000 miles per person. On the date I wanted though, only the 8AM flight was available. Hmmm, was having to get up at 4AM so that I would time to get a massage at the First Class Spa before departure worth it? Normally I would not have thought so, but then I saw the 8AM flight was on an A380.

I’d never been on an A380!! I was definitely willing to lose sleep for that experience!

So after full body massages and light breakfast in the lounge, we joined a group of 10 other first class passengers being led to the plane. I was sad to see the cabin would be full, but since we were in row 1, it wouldn’t really be noticeable.

My first impression: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

I liked how light and spacious the cabin felt, I liked even more how comfortable the seats were. I love Thai Airways service but I’ve not been a huge fans of their seats, including the suites.

As expected, there was tons of space under the foot rest, enough to fit my carryon, and the small closet to hang jackets.

As we were boarding I snagged a newspaper in Thai for one of my friends who collects international newspapers. The flight attendant noticed it sitting on my seat and got really excited that I spoke Thai! I explained it was for a friend and she came back shortly with a variety of other newspapers that my friend like. 🙂

They served us 2003 Dom Perignon, though I’ll admit this bottle was still a little rough.

The flight attendant was also a good sport about my extreme enthusiasm and (not so) discrete picture taking.

After they served pre-departure drinks they handed out the menus. They appear to be moving away from the more traditional looking woven menu covers and gone with a more modern snazzy look.

As soon as the seatbelt sign went off I immediately began investigating the front of the cabin. There were really steep stairs going down to the front of the plane (I don’t know if I’ll ever stop being thrilled by seeing stairs on the plane…no idea why). On the left side was a huge bathroom, on the other was a sitting area. I guess that would be handy if someone wanted to stretch without annoying their fellow passengers, but otherwise it felt a bit pointless.

The bathroom was enormous. I could see how a shower could easily fit in there. Instead the first part was a vary spacious area for changing and dressing. It even had a small vanity counter.

The actual bathroom part of it isn’t as glitzy as Cathay or Singapore Airlines but still quite nice. And who can say no to Ferragamo hand lotion 🙂

I wrapped up my explorations in time to place my order for breakfast.

It started off with yogurt, fresh fruit, and my own personal breadbasket.

I’d also ordered a glass of orange juice in tandem with my Dom. The Dom reminded me of the first time I tried the 2003 — somewhat metallic and saline — but it was going to be my last time to drink Dom for awhile. So I indulged myself and made a mimosa 🙂

The 03 Dom with fresh squeezed orange juice was very good indeed! Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for the eggs which came out far too granular and runny. I usually order the local favorite, and that would have been the better choice.

The 3 hour flight to Hong Kong passed far too quickly, but little did I know one of the biggest thrills of the trip was waiting for us as we deplaned. Thai Airways had carts ready to transport First Class passengers to immigration!

And after seeing just how far away our plane had parked from immigration I was particularly grateful! We cleared immigration pretty quickly and then caught a taxi to Hong Kong where I hoped I would finally get to see the peak without fog.

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10 Comments

This looks fantastic! I’m scheduled on my first Thai flight and its a 380 later in the year. I’m not in First but Business class and very excited. I have an 18 hr layover in BKK and planning a city tour and time for the lounge as I’ve heard it’s quite nice

I love your trip reports!! Hopefully I can experience first class someday too! I’ve mostly been redeeming for business class… Haven’t been able to pull the trigger for first class because it’s hard to justify to myself the extra miles needed. Now you’ve made me really want to try first class, haha! 🙂

It was the easiest award ticket I’ve ever had. United.com offers Thai Airways options on that route, so it was just a matter of checking United.com for a couple of days til the flight I wanted showed up. I could usually find availability within 1-2 days of my ideal dates and then my preferred times started showing up about 14 days out. It was great not having to call an agent.

I applaud the effort to wake up for an 8 am flight to experience the A380. We have that option, as well, in Jan 2014, when we fly Thai BKK-HKG. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t wake up at such an ungodly time and so we’re taking the 2 pm on their A330. For such a short flight, I didn’t think the A380 wake up time was worth it.

You are quite sane in your decision. It helped that we wanted to have more time in Hong Kong and the later flights got us in too late to do anything that day. Just make sure you get to the lounge at least 3 hours in advance so you have time for a full body massage AND a nice meal 🙂

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